Cristi Conaway Movies

The lives of a down-and-out but loving and optimistic Florida couple change dramatically when their desperately impoverished relatives abduct the 11-year-old son of a wealthy businessman and bring the child to their house. When Lucas and Roberta find that Roberta's sister Carrie and her husband Carl have kidnapped little John Wesley Danforth from a little-league game, their first instinct is to call the cops and send the boy back home. But Carl is in dire financial straits and desperately needs the ransom money. He pulls out a loaded gun and forces Lucas and Roberta to become accessories to the crime. Meanwhile, the boy's upstanding father August Danforth hires a private detective. Against the advice of the investigator, he then agrees to pay the $100,000 that Carl demands. When it is time to pick up the loot, Carl remains at home with Roberta and the boy and forces Lucas to accompany Carrie to get the money. While they are gone, Roberta engineers an escape for herself and John Wesley.

As soon as Lucas returns with the money, the three speed off in a truck. Lucas and Roberta want to take John Wesley straight to the police, but he refuses to go. Shortly thereafter, they learn the shocking reason why: it seems that his fine, well-respected father is a child batterer. All John Wesley wants is to be reunited with his estranged mother in Louisiana. When faced with the child's obvious suffering, the good-hearted couple feel they have no choice but to obey his wishes. This puts all three of them plus the mother in grave danger for not only has the vengeful August called in the FBI, but the dangerously enraged Carl and Roberta are rapidly closing in on them. In order to survive, the four fugitives make one final effort to make it to the safety of Mexico. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this film a middle-aged woman tries to get married to her younger fiance but is hindered by her four grown children who come bearing grudges. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

In this independent melodrama, Mack's upcoming marriage to Katie is jeopardized when he goes too far with his estranged friend's girlfriend after his bachelor party concludes. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Nina (Laura San Giacomo), a young married woman, has an affair with a British photographer in this low-key comedy drama about adultery and romantic role-playing. Nina Takes a Lover, the debut film of writer-director Alan Jacobs, tells its story in flashback, as Nina is interviewed by a journalist who is writing an article on modern marriage -- or, more specifically, modern infidelity. The affair begins after Nina's husband has left for a long business trip, leaving Nina lonely, depressed, and seriously doubting his faithfulness. In this vulnerable state, she meets a stranger in the park. He's from Wales, he's a photographer, and he's quite handsome. Encouraged by the experience of her best friend, who has been unfaithful to her husband for some time now, Nina begins an affair with the photographer. She finds the experience a wonderful, revitalizing thrill and is soon considering leaving her husband to move in with her new lover. However, Nina's feelings become more complicated when she discovers some of her lover's hidden secrets. While on the surface the film is a rather uneventful, performance-driven character study, Nina's story in fact builds toward a surprising revelation, one that casts an entirely new light on the nature of her affair. ~ Judd Blaise, All Movie Guide

One of Woody Allen's most seemingly biographical films, Husbands and Wives opens with upper-middle class Manhattan couple Sally (Judy Davis) and Jack (Sydney Pollack) announcing to their best friends, the Roths, that they are splitting up. Gabe Roth (Allen) and his wife Judy (Mia Farrow) are taken aback by their casual revelation. Jack begins dating his dim, but sexy, aerobics instructor and Sally starts up a tentative romance with Michael (Liam Neeson). Gabe and Judy begin analyzing their marriage, discovering that they might not be meant to stay together. English professor Gabe begins a serious flirtation with a student of his named Rain (Juliette Lewis) and Judy begins to have feelings for Michael. Eventually, Sally and Jack reconcile, but have not improved their relationship. Gabe and Judy end up going their separate ways. Husbands and Wives was seemingly influenced by Ingmar Bergman's Scenes From a Marriage. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide

A big city doctor is stranded in a small rural town, where he finds love, professional challenges, and a pet pig, in this comedy. Fresh out of residence at a Washington D.C. hospital, hot-shot plastic surgeon Ben Stone (Michael J. Fox) hops in his Porsche and is headed for California, where a lucrative practice in Beverly Hills awaits. However, Ben accidentally plows into a fence in Grady, South Carolina; the wreck puts Ben's car out of commission, and the town's mayor, Nick Nicholson (David Ogden Stiers), sees to it that Ben is sentenced to perform community service while he's waiting to get his car back on the road. For a week, Ben will serve as the community's general practitioner, filling in for the aging Dr. Hogue (Barnard Hughes). Many of the locals go out of their way to make Ben feel welcome, since they need a new full-time doctor and hope he'd be interested in staying on a permanent basis. Ben isn't especially interested until he meets Lou (Julie Warner), a beautiful, intelligent, and feisty local woman he first meets as she's enjoying a morning skinny-dip. Ben now finds himself wondering what the odds are of winning her away from her less-than-brilliant boyfriend Hank (Woody Harrelson). Bridget Fonda has a memorable supporting role as Nancy Lee, who doesn't make much of a secret of her attraction to Ben. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide